by Ted Berg, USA TODAY Sports

by Ted Berg, USA TODAY Sports

Phillies starter Roy Halladay pitched his last spring training start on Thursday and failed to quiet the concerns about his arm strength and effectiveness that have plagued him all spring. The 36-year-old righty needed 96 pitches to get through 4 1/3 innings against the Blue Jays, allowing eight hits, two walks and two runs in the process.

Halladay did strike out six Toronto batters, but reports from Clearwater say his fastball lacked its vintage velocity and movement.

As recently as 2010, Halladay averaged about 92 miles per hour with his fastballs. The velocity cooled off slightly in 2011 then significantly in 2012, when Halladay struggled with a shoulder strain and suffered one of the worst seasons of his career.

Halladay has maintained that troubles in spring training games aren't atypical for him and don't reflect any sort of injury. To his credit, spring training stats aren't often great predictors of regular-season success or failure. But it's hard not to cringe a bit when looking at Halladay's final Grapefruit League line: 16 1/3 innings pitched, 6.06 ERA, 21 hits allowed, nine walks, 16 strikeouts.